KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — Datuk Dr Haron Din was so venerated for his religious healings that his work sparked urban legends claiming that the PAS spiritual adviser had transported jinns by bus.
Haron died at the age of 76 yesterday at the Stanford University Hospital in California while undergoing treatment for a heart problem.
Among the Malay-Muslim community, Haron will be remembered for his work as a leading religious healer and alternative medicine practitioner. People used to go to his Bangi clinic not just for spiritual problems like demonic possessions, but also for physical illnesses, including cancer, because they believed in the power of his prayer.
Haron would not turn people away, but he never claimed he could cure bodily ailments.
His work, which also involved exorcisms, has led him to become a household name among many Malay families, among whom urban legends of his prowess have continued to spread.
The most famous was the one of him transporting jinns by buses from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi campus, which he had to deny for over a decade.
Fatigued by the constant questions of the validity of the story since the mid 1990s, Haron uploaded a video on the internet in 2011 to, once and for all, deny that the incident ever took place. He had said that while he did perform exorcisms, there was no point for buses as the supernatural beings could fly away at high speeds, and the aim was to have these beings leave at their own will.
The Darussyifa’ centre that he founded will carry on his legacy as one of the biggest Islamic-based healing centres in the country.
Darussyifa’, which deals with both physical illness as well as spiritual disturbances, is primarily based in Bangi, but has expanded with branches in every state in the country.
Haron’s death came a year and a half after he was elected as PAS spiritual adviser to succeed the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
So trusted was the hudud proponent that he was unanimously voted to the post by the Majlis Syura Ulama in the Islamist opposition party in under a month from Nik Aziz’s death in February last year.
Beyond politics, his career saw him serving on several advisory boards pertaining to shariah compliance, including the shariah advisory panel for CIMB, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Securities Commission. He was also chairman of RHB Bank’s shariah advisory council and deputy chairman of Public Bank Berhad’s shariah advisory council among others.
Haron, the third child of ten, was born on August 18, 1940, in Bohor Mali in Kangar, Perlis, to religious teachers who taught the community to read the Quran.
He was only one of his siblings to pick up the craft of religious healing from their father, who was widely known in their village as Lebai Din.
According to his biodata on the Darussyifa’ website, he followed his father on healing sessions as a child and witnessed his father “heal” madness, possessions, and various chronic illnesses, which had inspired him to follow the same path.
For his early education, Haron was taught by his parents before he was sent to study at Madrasah al-Islahiah al-Wataniah Bohor Mali, Madrasah al-‘Alawiyah al-Diniah and Al-Islamiah College in Klang, Selangor.
He continued his education at Kolej Islam Malaya in 1962 and was then offered a scholarship to further his studies at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, where he received a master’s degree in Shariah and had earned himself a diploma in education from ‘Ain Shams, Cairo University at the same time.
Then he returned to Malaysia to serve as a religious teacher with the Education Ministry, before heading back to Egypt to complete his Ph.D in Shariah from Darul-Ulum Qahirah University between 1972 and 1974.
Haron became active in politics as a member of PAS in 1974 at 34, where he quickly became a central working committee member the next year.
His time in PAS saw him rise in the ranks and hold the posts of central committee chief, member of the Ulama Council, and deputy spiritual adviser before Nik Aziz’s death.
In 2004, he contested for the Arau parliamentary seat and the Tambun Tuland state assembly seat, but lost to Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates Datuk Seri Syed Razlan Putra Jamalullail and Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim respectively.
He contested the Arau seat again in 2008 and 2013, but lost both times as well to BN candidates Datuk Ismail Kassim and again Shahidan respectively.
Haron was appointed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as chief of the missionary cluster under the federal Islamic Consultative Council last February.
He is survived by his wife Datin Khatijah Din and five children.
– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/obituary-haron-din-the-healer#sthash.sv6PDfDL.dpuf